business

Chinese stocks plunged Monday, spurring a trading halt for the rest of the session, and leading stock markets in Asia Pacific lower after feeble manufacturing surveys revived concerns over the mainland's economic slowdown.
The Shanghai Composite tumbled 6.85 percent to 3296.66 and the Shenzhen Composite plunged 8.1 percent. The CSI 300 briefly plummeted 7.02 percent; when that index rises or falls 7 percent, a trading halt in China's markets is triggered for the rest of the session.
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China’s premier Li Keqiang has criticised investment flows between the EU and China as “hardly satisfactory” and made a strong appeal for the early conclusion of a bilateral treaty that would give Chinese companies a smoother path to acquiring European counterparts.
Mr Li, who was in Brussels on Monday to co-chair the 17th China-EU summit, also called for the two sides to start a feasibility study for a free trade area to resist protectionism and boost connectivity between Asia and Europe.
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China’s expansion across disputed territory in the South China Sea is driving up demand for US heavy weapons and military aircraft from Beijing’s neighbors, former US Defense Department official Dov Zakheim told Sputnik.
Earlier on Friday, US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken called on all claimants, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines, to freeze construction on the islands in the South China Sea.
“We [the United States] are selling everything from c...

Seattle has the Space Needle and the Smith Tower, the city’s guaranteed architectural treasures. But the building that is hard to overlook? That would be the tallest building in Seattle: Columbia Center, the city’s monolithic building at 76 stories high—and it is also the tallest building in the state of Washington.
There is a recent pending agreement that Columbia Center will be purchased by Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners for a reported $725 million, according to trade publication Real...

Florida Air Guard is to deploy 12 F-15C jets and about 200 airmen to Europe as part of Washington’s military build-up, which it claims is necessary to protect European NATO members from ‘Russian aggression.’
The fighters and troops from the 125th Fighter Wing of the Florida Air National Guard are to go to Europe in mid-April, the US Air Forces in Europe reported this week. The F-15C Eagles are equipped with advanced air-to-air radar and sniper targeting equipment that allows visual tracking a...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk1APnYz8Zw
Japan’s first-ever international defense trade show kicked off in Yokohama on Wednesday, attracting more than 100 exhibitors as the country aims to ramp up its global security role.
In opening remarks at the three-day MAST Asia 2015 defense conference on maritime security at Pacifico Yokohama convention center, former defense minister Satoshi Morimoto stressed the importance of establishing a system of maritime governance.
“I suppose most parti...

The Senate Finance Committee’s vote late Wednesday to approve “fast track” trade legislation revealed two things: Some Democrats strongly support the measure, and concerns about China’s currency practices will dog the bill as it moves through Congress.
“I think this is well on its way to passing,” Senate Finance Committee Orrin Hatch told reporters after the 20-6 bipartisan vote for the bill, which would empower the White House to finish a controversial Asia-Pacific trade deal. Seven Democrat...

Russia says it is willing to sell automobiles, aircraft, and ships to Iran after the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
"We are interested in supplies to this country. This concerns the automobile, aircraft, shipbuilding, and other industries,” Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in the city of Khabarovsk in eastern Russia, Interfax reported on Saturday.
“We are prepared to work together on conditions of cooperation and joint projects," he noted.
Iran...